German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

[outdoorsman]

I have a great GWP pup. he is 16 weeks old. And well he stinks. I have had him Vet checked. No ear problems. but the wife can't take teh smell. She is threatinging me to wash him every week, which I know is not good forthe dog. I bought Doggy deoderant. that just masks the smell slightly. Any ideas? I am thinking of switching dog food to see if that would make a difference. Right now he is eating Iams puppy food for large breed.

[cheerio]

I would definitely change the food. Iams has been sold and the new owners, also owners of Purina has drasticaly changed the formula. Many people have reported that after the change, their dog's poops stank. I am not sure however that it would make the dog stink!
There is a skin disease known as seborrhea who does give a very strong smell to the dog. It is a condition in which flakes of dried skin are shed a little like a very fine dandruff. These flakes can be dry or oily. In the oily type, the flakes are difficult to notice, and the diagnosis is based on the fact that the dog give out a rancy smell. This condition can occur in any dogs but is very common in many of the hunting breeds. The dog may or may not scratch, and may or may not have greasy area, notably on at the elbows, the front of the neck down to the chest and on the croop, depending upon the severity of the seborrhea. This condition can be easily treated with shampoos containing coal tar, known as "Tar shampoo", readily available at any pet stores. You will have to bath your dog once a week for 6 weeks, then once every 2 weeks for 4 weeks, then once a month for 6 months. Your dog should then be fine. However, the condition is known to reoccur, and should be treated in the same manner. Some people simply, once the scheduled treatement is over, systematically use a tar shampoo when ever puppy needs a bath. Dietary supplements containing essential fatty acids derived from fish oil, such as DermCaps are beneficial. Since you are about to change food, you might consider one of the Royal Canin food which contains fish instead of meat.

[Leslie Swisher]

Congratulations on your puppy! I am new to GWPs - my pup is now 13 weeks old - so I have no special knowledge in what my be causing the stink in your pup. I have several years experience with limiting odors from collecting in a Komondor and a Puli. The regular use of scented shampoo (e.g. Lambert Kay Fresh and Clean) or odor-controlling shampoo can make a huge difference in a dog's odor. The shampoo scent can stay in a corded coat for weeks. Of course the GWP coat is much different than a corded coat , so this advice may be of limited value. However,since changing food should occur over several days, it may be easier to try a quick shampoo first to see if that helps.

I have used Eukanuba (Iams) food for most of the past 11 years and have not encountered, nor heard of, it causing a dog to stink.

[outdoorsman]

Thanks for the tips so far. Like I said it is the dog that stinks, not the poop. ( I expect that to stink).

I am concerned about giving him a bath that often. Won't that dry out his skin?

[cheerio]

Yes, Outdoorman, to an extent, it will make its skin a little dryer. It is the very purpose, to get rif of the oily seborrhea. However, Tar shampoos are medicated to restore the balance of the skin. So in that sense, you do not have to fear for your dog who will not have an excessively dry skin. If the smell is a little rancid, I would definitely try the treatement as it is the only known condition which will cause this smell.

[Illona]

Hi Outdoorman, Congrats on your new pup. I've had my now 15-mo-old girl out of rescue for 9 months now, and we've gone through a whole gamut of minor health conditions -- extreme flatulence, hair loss, frequent and huge stools, minor infections of bladder and eyes, and then an extreme food allergy situation that resembled a staph infection. The really bad food allergy was related to a few slices of Rollover I gave her - chopped into tiny pieces - as training treats. She became very ill.

We also had smelly-dog syndrome along with these other minor conditions, and I truly believe it was the food. When we cut out all lamb from her diet, everything cleared up, the stink left, and her coat came back. We then had her on a fish-protein-based food (Solid Gold Holistique), and it did wonders. However, I'm not a fan of SG and felt there were still some minor issues. I switched her to California Natural (made by Innova, the food my last dog ate). Within 2 wks we had extremely gunky ears and after another 2 wks we had more shedding and some weight loss. She's now been back on the Solid Gold Holitique for 4+ weeks; the ears are perfectly clean and there's less shedding, and her weight's perfect.

I also make my girl homemade soft food in a food-processor, and I use salmon and even a little tofu for her protein. She doesn't get much chicken right now, because i don't know if it was the chicken in the Calif. Nat. that gave her the problem.

Sorry this is long, but it's just an example of how variable the foods can be, and how different dogs react to different foods. THe allergies can be so subtle, and it's a real pain in the ass trying to figure it all out.

DO be sure to give any new food at least 10 weeks, otherwise you might not be seeing the full result of that food. I know some people with pointers who have switched their dog from Ol' Roy or Science Diet to a more natural/holistic food and for the first 2-4 weeks their dog actually seems to go downhill a bit. From all my own research and my own experience with this girl, this is completely natural. The body is detoxifying and is going to go through some changes while it eliminates toxins from the former food. So please give it a bit of time.

Illona

[outdoorsman]

Good points. I'll let you know what happens. The bad part is I have about 22 pounds of the Iam dog food left. So It will be a while before I make a food switch. But I am going to try that shampoo out.

[Illona]

I probably should have mentioned as well... the shampoo I use for my girl is the Solid Gold "extra gentle" shampoo (not sure of the exact name, but it's for extra sensitive skin). It has a eucalyptus smell, and is very VERY gentle. Often in the spring and fall (and, well, summer too!) my girl gets filthy every time out; this results in almost daily hose-downs in the shower, and frequent shampoos. The Solid Gold shampoo makes the coat quite soft, AND it's gentle enough that you truly can use it on a semi-daily basis.

It SEEMS pricier than other shampoos, but it's a 6 to 1 concentrate. You use VERY little of it, so it lasts well past any other shampoos. I'm washing my girl a lot. Used to run her in muddy dog parks daily. And I just bought my second bottle of the stuff -- it lasted 9 months.

As for using up the Iams... 22 lbs shouldn't take him long to get through. If you really want though, you can always take it to the local shelter. I've taken more than a few bags of food there as a donation when I discovered my girl had reactions to it. They're very grateful for the donation.

Others will recommend that you get a new food NOW -- and mix the last of the Iams with it so you're feeding the mixed foods for a couple weeks to get their systems used to the new diet. I've not found this necessary with my girl. The worst case scenario is some loose stool for a couple days, but if it's a good food you're switching to, you shouldn't experience problems. At least, not from my experience, and I've switched this girl more than a few times now!

Illona

[outdoorsman]

I was looking at the ingredience in the food I give him.
Chicken, Corn Meal, Chicken By-Product Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Natural Chicken Flavor,

Now if they are using Chicken as their primary ingredient, Why would they have to add Chicken flavor to it?

I am heading to Petsmart tonite and looking at different types of food. I'll keep you posted.

[Illona]

Hey Outdoorsman-with-his-smelly-GWP!

I can't speak to the reasoning behind the chicken flavor. From a lot of the horror stories I've heard about the pet-food industry, my guess is that they're trying to do whatever possible to make those (questionable) "by-products" actually taste like chicken.

Also from my own research, I've been lead to believe - very strongly - that corn is simply filler. Dogs can't digest it very well and many react to it. Feed your dog a dozen kernels of corn and watch 'em come out the other end. That's proof enough for me. Don't get me wrong, there are MANY dogs out there that are doing fine with corn in their diet. Again, this is based on my OWN experience feeding dogs and the vast amount of reading I've done. I am NOT a vet or a pet nutritionist.

You might be interested in this website: http://www.doberdogs.com/ The author offers a very comprehensive breakdown of the different foods (even if his spelling isn't the best). Check the "Pet and Feedstore Brands"; it covers natural/holistic foods as well.

As for chicken... If your pup is still stinky it could be any ingredient he's allergic to (if this is allergies), but I'm starting to think my girl is allergic to the chicken she was getting in the California Natural. We're now several weeks back into the Solid Gold Holistique (fish-protein based), and her ears are perfectly clean and she doesn't smell at all. Proof enough for me, but I'm still going to continue experimenting. Next I'm going to try her on Innova (my last dog ate it). It's chicken-protein based as well...so we'll see.

Illona

[outdoorsman]

Well I took Hershey to petsmart yesterday for his first obedience class.

While we were there I talked to the trainer. She recommend nutra(sp?) large breed. Supposable more natural foods. I stuck with the chicken flavor for now. We will see how it works. If that doesn't work I may try to switch to a lamb base or try the science diet chicken version.

Thanks for the link! I never realized there were that many brands and types of dog food.

[admin]

I don't think you mentioned that you had taken him to a vet. There is a condition called "puppy sebhorrhea (sp?) also called "puppy acne." It can result in bumps that look like zits.. or a bad smell... You might want to check that out as well.

SilvarGWP

[outdoorsman]

I asked the vet about that on Monday. He said he didn't think My dog ahd that. Thanks. I am hoping it is just the dog food.

[outdoorsman]

Just to give you an update! I switched to Nutra something or other food. We have been slowly switching over and have noticed the smell is no longer around!!!! So it looks like the food was the problem

[Illona]

Congratulations on your new odorless GWP, Outdoorsman. From my own experience, I can say that food allergies is a tough thing to nail down in a dog. You got lucky!

Illona - still struggling with minor allergies with her GWP